Writing in the new year

My big new year's resolution is to write every day. Everything I read about writing says you must write every day, even if it's only a few paragraphs, and you should try to write at the same time/place every day to make it a habit. I've become very good at doing everything BUT writing. I have lots of ideas and I take no action. But I have a goal, which is probably a lifetime goal, to write a book about my grandparents who came here from Italy in the early 1900's. Lots of good stuff there...illegitimate births, death in the copper mines, nobility, romance, war....but first I have to work on my stories & get some stuff published. I've gotten good at writing the first few pages of stories, then I get stymied. I need to learn how to craft a plot. There's a writing class locally that maybe I'll take, for 8 weeks. I need someone to put a fire under my butt so I start producing. A friend from college used to say that you have to suffer to be a good writer. I don't suffer. I got an email from someone yesterday that said if I sent the email on to a certain number of people within 6 minutes, something good would happen to me. But something good happens to me every single day already! My kids bring me constant joy. They come home from school & are glad to see me, even my teenagers. My husband is pretty much as good as they get. I want for nothing! I used to look at the tiffany's catalogue and pine for jewelry, or read the NY Times & long to travel to exotic places, or shop for clothes and yearn for designer suits I couldn't afford. Now all I want is a good pair of jeans and good health for my family and wish that my parents would live forever. Honestly. I live in the greatest country in the world, where I can do what I want and live where I want and say what I want. I see in the news people devastated by poverty, war, disease, and think if I've been reincarnated, I must have been very good in a prior life. Maybe it's having kids that changes your outlook. So I guess the only problem I have, writing-wise, is complacency. I have to form some good writing habits. Still reading John Updike, still amazed by his talent with words.